Would you believe me if I told you that capitalism would end in America, not by government seizure, but by surrender of the capitalists themselves? Are we really witnessing our largest businesses asking the government to save them from themselves?
It seems like only yesterday that Ronald Reagan rolled back the advancing tide of socialism. He began the unraveling of complex and burdensome federal regulations that seemed designed to make free enterprise unmanageable. With our help and Margaret Thatcher's, Reagan restored a sense of duty and purpose in the world. He lowered taxes, rebuilt the military, stopped the Soviet Union in its expansionist tracks, and put the swagger back into our national stride.

Just 20 years after Reagan rode off into the sunset, the stewards of the free enterprise engine have thrown up their hands and cried "uncle." One by one--some days 2 by 4--the foundations of free market capitalism and the symbols of financial independence and growth surrender to the socialism monster in Washington. It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

The government now runs the banks. It will soon seize the automobile and steel industries. Newspapers are just behind. At that point, every major purchase you make and every word of news you read will be designed, assembled, packaged, filtered, and sold by a bureaucrat in Washington.

Instead of freedom, we are given license. Society, mainstream protestant churches, the media, and government tell us to do whatever we want with the allowance we're given. There is no such thing as consequence or shame. Humility has become a pathology just when we, as a nation and as individuals, have infinite reasons to be humble.